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The Stingiest Man in Town
The Stingiest Man in Town.jpg
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町一番のけちんぼう
(Machi Ichiban no Kechinbou)
Genre Historical
Anime
Directed by Katsuhisa Yamada,
Jules Bass,
Arthur Rankin Jr.
Produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Jules Bass
Written by Charles Dickens
Romeo Muller
Music by Fred Spielman, Janice Torre
Studio
  • Rankin/Bass Productions
  • Topcraft Limited Company
Licensed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Released December 23, 1978
(United States)
December 24, 1978
(Japan)

The Stingiest Man in Town (町一番のけちんぼう, Machi Ichiban no Kechinbō) is a 1978 animated Christmas musical television special based on Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It was created by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, and features traditional animation rather than the stop motion animation most often used by the company. It was an animated remake of a long-unseen, but quite well received, live-action musical special (also called The Stingiest Man in Town) which had starred Basil Rathbone, Martyn Green, and Vic Damone. The live-action version had been telecast on December 23, 1956, on the NBC anthology series The Alcoa Hour, and was published on DVD in 2011, by VAI. The animated remake first aired December 23, 1978, in the United States on NBC, and was telecast in Japan the next day.

Plot

The Stingiest Man in Town is the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, told in the 1978 version through the perspective of the insect B.A.H. Humbug (voiced by Tom Bosley), obviously a word play on Scrooge's catch phrase, "bah humbug". Scrooge (performed by Walter Matthau) is portrayed as the tightwad Charles Dickens intended him to be with his consistent resistance to assist the poor or even have Christmas dinner with his nephew Fred (performed by Dennis Day) and his family. In hopes of resuscitating the goodness of his one-time friend, the ghost of Jacob Marley (voiced by Theodore Bikel), Scrooge's former business partner, visits Scrooge in his mansion, exhorting him to change his ways. Scrooge deems this to be madness and soon prepares for bed.

Nevertheless, Scrooge's attitude soon changes after a fateful night wherein three ghosts also visit him and take him through his past and present, and show him what his future would be like if he does not change. Scrooge sees a younger caricature of himself, voiced by Robert Morse and realizes how greedy and miserly he has become. The Ghost of Christmas Present (performed by Paul Frees) proceeds to take Scrooge to the home of his diligent employee Bob Cratchit and discovers just how much poverty Cratchit and his family wallow in. Cratchit's crippled son Tiny Tim (voiced by Bobby Rolofson) touches Scrooge's heart and instigates a transformation within his personality. The Ghost of Christmas Future then brings Scrooge to a cemetery to show the result of his once greedy behaviour. The production concludes with Scrooge assisting those less fortunate than himself.

Cast

Staff

  • Producers/Directors - Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass
  • Associate Producer - Masaki Iizuka
  • Writer - Romeo Muller
  • Based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
  • Music - Fred Spielman
  • Book and Lyrics - Janice Torre
  • Design - Paul Coker, Jr.
  • Animation Coordinator - Toru Hara
  • Animation Supervisor - Tsuguyuki Kubo
  • Animation Director - Katsuhisa Yamada
  • Background Design - Minoru Nishida
  • Backgrounds - Kazusuke Yoshihara, Kazuko Ito
  • Layouts - Kazuyuki Kobayashi, Tadakatsu Yoshida, Hidemi Kubo
  • Animation - Yoshiko Sasaki, Masahiro Yoshida
  • Sound Recording - John Curcio, John Richards, Dave Iveland, Robert Elder
  • Sound Effects - Tom Clack
  • Vocal Arrangements - Jerry Graff
  • Music Supervision - Maury Laws
  • Music Arranger/Conductor - Bernard Hoffer

Production

As with previous Rankin-Bass specials, animation duties for the 1978 version were provided by a Japanese studio, in this case Topcraft, many of whose animators would later form the core of Studio Ghibli. Given that The Stingiest Man in Town was actually broadcast in Japan on Christmas Eve of 1978 (under the title Machi Ichiban Kechinbō), it is listed as an anime in some sources. The Japanese version was directed by Katsuhisa Yamada, better known for work on such bona fide anime as Mazinger Z and Devil Hunter Yohko and the characters were designed by Paul Coker Jr.

Songs

The production features an unusual number of songs, far more than in other animated productions of the story.

  • Sing a Christmas Carol
  • An Old Fashioned Christmas
  • Humbug
  • The Stingiest Man in Town
  • I Wear a Chain
  • Golden Dreams
  • It Might Have Been
  • The Christmas Spirit
  • Yes, There is a Santa Claus
  • Birthday Party of the King
  • One Little Boy
  • You Wear a Chain
  • Mankind Should be My Business
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